Glen Abernethy

No new funds were coming from the federal government to cover this difference. We were hoping to get some additional dollars, but recognizing the fiscal restraint and fiscal policy that we are utilizing, we will fund these from within.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The federal government has the authority to make amendments to the Canada Health Act as they see fit. They did make changes to exclude the RCMP, which have put the RCMP under our responsibility, hence the changes to the Medical Care Act. At this time I’m not aware that the federal government is making any moves to do the same thing with the military.

Yes, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document, titled “Government of the Northwest Territories Response to Healing Voices: The Report of the Minister’s Forum on Addictions and Community Wellness.” Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

There may be, but it’s going to be 17 years away. We’ve just signed a 20-year contract three years ago; two years ago, 18 years away.

It might be a little early to go out and to actually do an expression, but we’re absolutely willing to share any information that we have on the program with other communities that might be interested in doing the same type of thing. But until we do an actual evaluation and conclude that evaluation, we won’t necessarily be in a position to make any commitments to support that program in any of the other communities, but we will share information.

The changes to the Canada Health Act affect all the provinces and territories in exactly the same way. The magnitude might be different because of the size of the police force and the RCMP in each of the jurisdictions. The Ministers of Justice across the territories raised these concerns at one of their FTPs and it was pretty clear that the federal government was going to be moving ahead with this regardless, and those costs are now, as Mr. Dolynny indicated, downloaded on to the Government of the Northwest Territories.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today I talked about the Minister’s Forum on Addictions and Community Wellness and the 12 individuals who helped us with that. Today I’d like to recognize Paul Andrew, who is the chair of the forum, and thank him for all of his hard work and that of his colleagues. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Since April 1, 2013, we have been providing those services and paying for those services. Prior to that we were providing those services and invoices were sent to the RCMP to recoup our costs. That no longer happens.

Families were covered by RCMP before and they’re covered by us now.